Ippone Pretre (Leusitane Heavy Cavalry)
Lusotannan Heavy Cavalry consisting of members of the minor nobility and their retainers. Description The sight of the Vobrim Epones strikes fear into the hearts of their enemies and inspires the chieftain's men to fight and thereby gain the approval of Bandua, the god of war who sees all. Their mounts are fast, deep-lunged and untiring. The men, wealthy retainers of their lord, have proven themselves in battle and have been rewarded with lands and silver to buy and tend their mounts, and they can afford the protection offered by scale or chain mail armour and bronze helmets. They wield iron spears and the gladii or falcatas that hang from their waist are used to deadly effect. Their armour and horses' trappings glitter under the bright Iberian sun as the Vobrim Epones sing songs of victory and the brave deeds of their ancestors only to suddenly disappear, and reappear as if from nowhere, bearing down on their enemy in a swift, lethal charge until the outsiders are driven screaming from the field of battle. The tactics of the Vobrim Epones should be in consonance with Lusotannan military philosophy: hit and run. Brief but hard charges, best used to the flank or rear of the enemy, where the horses' speed and rider's skill in use of local terrain permit them to move around an enemy like fast-flowing water and then strike for maximum effect to destroy morale. Prolonged face-to-face combat against heavy infantry or cavalry is not a good idea as the advantage of speed and manoeuvrability is lost. Historically, Appian made frequent references to the "swift horses" of the Lusotannan, and he also describes how Viriathus, a Lusotannan chieftain, was able to hold off an entire Romani army for one day with just one thousand cavalrymen by repeated attacks and withdrawals. The Romani cavalry were unable to catch them "by reason of the weight of their armour, their ignorance of the roads and the inferiority of their horses". Although they fought in scattered groups and employed the hit and run tactics of light mounted troops, some Lusotannan cavalry would certainly have been well armoured. Vase paintings of the period show cavalrymen wearing chain mail or scale armour, and figurines represent horses with facial protection or even mail body armour, although this was probably very rare. The small round shield, or caetra, common in many parts of Iberia, was effective in the hands of a skilled user, while the falcata was a potentially lethal weapon, with a one edged blade angled forward towards the point, and a weight distribution that makes it capable of delivering a blow with the momentum of a hatchet while maintaining the cutting edge of a sword. Examples have been found in tombs throughout Spain, along with the straight, two edged sword later adopted by the Romani legions, known as the gladius hispaniensis. Several academics believe that prior to the c. 3rd BC, organised units of cavalry were not common amongst tribes in the Peninsula, partly due to the expense of the upkeep of a mount and the equipment required. But then the decay of institutions based on sacred monarchies and aristocracies and the appearance of a growing number of armed retainers similar to the Hellene hetaroi enabled leaders of tribal confederations to field thousands of mounted warriors. \n\nAccording to another hypothesis, the formation of a true cavalry force was driven less by internal factors and was more a response to the military needs of the Karthadastim and Romani, who could count on their own solid and well-equipped infantry and who required light infantry and cavalry to supplement their forces and provide an additional military resource in terrain as rough and demanding as that to be found in Spain. Category:Units Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Lusotannan